Lady Vols vs. Vanderbilt Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick

Opening statement:
"Congratulations to Stephanie (White) and her team; they worked their butts off. Obviously I'm disappointed for our team and for our staff and for the fans. We just didn't play well. We didn't rebound, we didn't make defense a priority, and we just didn't get it done."

On the good start and what happened after that:
"Again, I thought we started missing shots, and so we didn't play defense. We were up by I think seven with a minute to go (in the first half), and I had to sub because we got in foul trouble, and then they cut it to two, and I thought that stretch right there hurt us. The last minute and a half of the second quarter."

On the team only getting six offensive rebounds and how that affected the offense:
"You can't be one of the top rebounding teams in the country and get six offensive rebounds on possibly 30 tries. We missed thirty shots. They outrebounded us, and that's effort. That's just will; that's just wanting the basketball. And, we just didn't have that on a consistent basis tonight. We couldn't get a stop, and you've got to get stops. We just didn't have any desire to play defense in the third and fourth quarter. So, we just didn't get it done."

On how hard it is as a coach to comprehend lack of desire despite what's on the line:
"It's hard. It's hard for me because I'm so competitive, so, it's hard. You've got to respect this game, and to respect this game you play it as hard as you can on every possession, every time you get on the floor. Lou Brown has her knee hurt. She can't play, but she's on the bench just giving everything she's got. So, when you have the ability to play, you've got to play with a passion. You've got to play like it's your last game. You've got to play each possession like it's important, and if you go out and you don't play hard, you don't deserve to win. You don't deserve to win the basketball game."

On Evina Westbrook getting into foul trouble:
"It hurt us. I thought Jazmine (Massengill) came in and did a good job too. Cheridene (Green) got in foul trouble, and it was a combination of a lot of things."

On her message to the team:
"You are not going to win on just talent. You are not going to win just because you have Tennessee across your chest. You have to win because you have the passion, will, and desire. You have to step up and say, 'Dammit, I am not going to lose.' That is when you are going to win."

On looking forward to the rest of the season:
"They can (turn it around), absolutely. It can't come from our coaching staff; it has to come from each of those young ladies. That is what is exciting about the game and the tournament. It is anybody's game and anybody's opportunity. You have to take advantage of the opportunities that are given to you. You have to play this game hard."

On the effort of the team:
"We had two great practices leading up to this. Our energy was really good going into shoot around, and we were really focused. The energy was high before the game. If I could put my finger on it, maybe I could stop the bleeding. I cannot put my finger on it. We are going to continue to prepare and give them the best game plan we can and hope they step up. I can't play for them, and I can't want it any more than they want it. They have to dig deep and figure it out."

Senior Guard/Forward Meme Jackson

On moving past this game:
"This loss, it hurts, but we just have to get back to work and remain focused and get back to playing Tennessee basketball. I think today we were playing a little lackadaisical as a team. We had spurts where we were playing hard and not playing hard. So, I think we need to get out to practice and just get back to 100 percent Tennessee basketball."

On if she thinks her team can turn it around in the SEC Tournament:
"Well, we have Ole Miss up next; we don't need to overlook them. That's our next game, and we need to take it game by game. That's the first thing we need to focus on. We need to win that game, then going into the SEC tournament we need to have the mindset to keep playing hard no matter what. But right now, we are focused on Ole Miss next."

On if she thinks there's a reason for her team's inconsistency this season:
"The answer for that is just aren't giving 100 percent effort every time we're on the floor. Like I said before, we have been playing in spurts and that can't keep happening, because we will keep losing if we do that. If we can put together a 40-minute game, then I think we will be ok, but right now just playing in spurts isn't working, so we need to figure it out."

Redshirt-Senior Forward Cheridene Green

On some tough calls against her and her overall performance:
"I don't think anybody would want to foul out, especially on Senior Night. I have been getting called for offensive fouls throughout season, but I think what I have learned is to not let myself play passive, to still play my game and be smart, and I think that's what I did tonight."
On being outrebounded:
"I think they know we're a great offensive rebounding team, so I think they just had more heart and effort than us. They were boxing us out well, and we should have fought back and kept going when adversity hit us."

Freshman Forward Mimi Collins

On playing for the seniors:
"My thing as a freshman is to not only play for myself, but to go out and play for these seniors. Tonight, was all about the seniors, and it's going to continue to be all about the seniors since this is their last year. I have three more years, so I have room to make mistakes, but this is their last year, so for me I feel like I play for my seniors. And I don't want to go out as that freshman who doesn't care for her teammates, or for the seniors. I just play hard, listen to the seniors, because they give great advice, and play for them."

Vanderbilt Head Coach Stephanie White

Opening Statement:
"First things first, I am just so proud of my team. To go through the things and the adversity we have been through this year, to continue to be resilient, to be continue to fight, to put ourselves in position to get better day after day, and still be in it for one another is a huge credit to them. And also a huge credit to their belief in one another and their attitude and using it as a challenge every day. We have continued to get better, and for us to come in here and seal a win like this is huge for our program. It is huge for our player's confidence. I am just incredibly grateful to be able to coach these guys every day and watch them continue to grow."

On how a first-ever win in Knoxville helps at the end of the season:
"I think it is big. There's never another first. There have been so many storied matchups between these two programs. I think back to some of the ones that I watched back in the day. So I think for us to come into a tough environment, to come into a place that has so much tradition, and to continue to push ourselves to win was huge. And today we were able to finish it. That shows the growth process of our team. We have been in certain positions, but today we were able to finish it. We were able to make the plays we had to make to finish ball games. I am just super proud of our players."

On how the offense changed throughout the game:
"We really struggled early. I thought (Jordyn) Cambridge came in and gave us a huge lift. Her ability to break down defense and make the right play was big. We finally were able to get fouls going a little bit and get the ball going. She was able to finish. We started pushing the ball a little bit more in transition and getting easier buckets while they were in rotation. So all of those things made contributions. At the end of the day, we made shots and fortunately we made enough free throws at the end of the game to close it out."

On how if the game against Mississippi State gave the team confidence:
"Absolutely. We played one of the best teams in the country. We played them pretty well for the most part. We challenge our players every day to think about how we have competed against the top teams in our league. We have been right there in most of them for at least 35 minutes. We can put ourselves in that position. We continue to challenge our players on their effort and to continue gain in the toughness category. To me, in these last two ball games, we have been as tough as we have ever been since I have been here. You have to have that toughness to compete in the SEC."

On how much Kortney Dunbar was able to help out during this specific game and how Mickie DeMoss has helped:
"I think whenever you can surround yourself with players and coaches that have been winners, it is certainly a good opportunity. We don't ask her (Kortney) to help out with stuff like that because I don't think that's right and I don't want to put her in an awkward position. Having her energy is huge. She is a hype man. You saw her when she played here. She is a hype man. And for our players to learn how to be that hype man despite of struggles and bad games, it is huge for us. I just can't say enough about Mickie. I have been trying to get Mickie to work with me for a long time. She is one of my mentors. She has grown to be a great friend to me, and for me to have somebody like Mickey, to have as a resource to lean on and to challenge me, to help me think outside the box, help me get better every day, to help my staff get better every single day is huge. I am just incredibly grateful that she's along this year for this ride."

On what led to the offensive rebound changes compared to the previous game:
"It was huge. Since the last time we played them, we really focused on transition defense and rebounding. We don't have the biggest team or the tallest team, but we have been focusing on our position and really focusing on pushing back and going to get the ball. It was a point of emphasis. For us to handle them the way that we did on the boards was huge. I give credit to our team for buying into that. We challenged our guards because our posts have their hands full. Our guards got in there. We challenged them to get five. (Cierra) Walker got five. That was good."

On if she thinks the SEC tournament will be entertaining next week:
"I hope so. I tell our players, we go into these environments and these tough environments and this is fun. You go to Starkville, and it is packed. You go to South Carolina, and it is packed. You come here, and it is packed. This is what SEC basketball is all about. And for the first time in a long time, anybody can win on any given night. I think every team wants to finish their season with a win and momentum to the SEC tournament, but I think it is going to be a fun one.

Junior Guard Cierra Walker

On when they she felt confident they could get the win:
"For me it was really at the beginning of the fourth quarter. I felt like our team came into the second half with tons of energy and competitiveness. We didn't take any plays off. I just felt like at the beginning of the fourth quarter we could come out with this win if we just kept doing what we were doing - taking care of the ball, rebounding and getting stops on defense, just doing the little things. I felt like we had a lot of energy to be able to do that."

Senior Center Mariella Fasoula

On when they she felt confident they could get the win:
"She mentioned everything. I think what really helped us was the energy coming off from every single player. Every single player mattered to this win. They did everything to make this win possible. So I think coming into the second half with that energy, it gave us hype. We got into the game and we knew we were going to win this. You come in here and quite frankly you're like we can't rewrite history, so what is there to lose?"